1/8th Scratchbuild - Porsche RS60

[cinqster]

Whooa...thanks for the warning Jelp. Definately not going down that route then! Hope you find a way of repairing it properly - must be heart braking after all that work!

[gionc]

John dunno know if you already used but the Mori Mori polyester putty seems a good deal there: it cure 100% in 24h (like a rock) but just after 20/25 mins you'll cut easily with a knife and sand, and it wouldn't lost volume. You'll fill with polyuretane foam from a couple cm from the base and than with the Mori: it's awesome (but smell very very hard). I tried also some automotive poliester's putty but they haven't the "step's curing" of the mory: their curing is linear, like I said the Mori transform its consistency and after a couple hour start to be almost rock.

[DarrenGR]

Hi cinqster - lol, noticed your sig picture, but never checked your profile! Have done now!! Remember it being a nice kit - didn't realise the company was dormant. GP were our rivals back in the day when we were making beach buggies and other Veedub stuff - still they lasted longer than us! Pretty sure the guys who bought Dad's company are dormant now too!

If you were going that route - I'd use the block stuff, not the expanding foam in a can - or by the sounds of other posts there is now newer stuff of there that has surpassed urathane.

Glad you're making progress and can't wait for the next pics!

Cheers

Darren

[cinqster]

Hi G, I have to admit that I'd never heard of Mori Mori until today. Did a search and it only seems to be available from HLJ - I can't wait that long as I'm gagging to start shaping at the weekend!

To be honest I've not had any real problems with bondo before and I find it easy to work with. Normally rough carving and shaping can be done in the first 30 minutes before it cures.

Darren, I'm guessing by your Newbury address that your Dad was involved with UVA? Showing my age now!

[DarrenGR]

Hi again Cinqster,

No, not UVA - (the M6GTR was another favourite of mine, along with the Fugitive!) The firm was FF Kit Cars & Conversions - (previously Fibre Fab - VERY 70's!!!;o)) ) they made the Rat & FF beach buggies, the Countryman - a Beetle pickup - numerous flared wings, spoilers and different bonnets for the beetle, and the Alfa Plus - which was a conversation of the old Alfasud. Basically throw away all of the rusty panels and replace with fibreglass. The 'sub was a great car for engine and handling, but usual 70's italian metal which suffered greatly with tin worm!! Those were the days!!! ;o))

Darren

[lam90]

John, wow, not only is this project going to be interesting to follow but what a great project to do. I wish you the best and can already say this is far beyond my skills.

I take it that this means that your 1/8 scale Cunningham Le Mans Jaguar is again on hold but I can understand why.

In out last correspondence, you were going to sent me some dimensions of the Cunningham Jaguar fuel tank. I know you were leaving for Le Mans the next day but did you have a chance to sent them, I haven't received them as of today.

Best regards,

Larry

[cinqster]

Hi Larry, I plain forgot! Give me a couple of days and I'll get something over to you.

[JELPSPEED]

Hi John,

here are the pictures of my master model, I used PU foam (the one that comes in a can, and also the one that yo mix 2 bottles.) to fill the model, after that I applied a coat of resin, and then the bondo or automotive filler.

1 week later we had a storm (the model is kept inside my workshop) and I got this with the humidity of that rain:




I carved and applied again some bondo, and 1 month later it appeared again.




and today, almost 6 years later I tried to fix it, and carved again to eliminate the foam, and it still gives me the same problem.
As an advise don´t use PU Foam!!!



You should fill it with bondo, it´s cheap, and you can get good solid model quickly.

Best regards.

[lam90]

Originally Posted by cinqster

Hi Larry, I plain forgot! Give me a couple of days and I'll get something over to you.

No problem John, I am still working very slowly on my project. . Not an issue of time, just an issue of skill.

Best regards,

Larry

[rsxse240]

why not use a spandex material to cover the wood buck, then spread fiberglass resin on top of it to make the mold nearly perfect without even any sanding? then you can spread bondo, or some other body filler to get your finished shape.

I have used this method on making speaker boxes, and custom dash/consoles on 1:1 cars. it is quick, hardens in about 3 hours or less (full cure) then smear with your body filler.

the only bad part would be that you have to reduce just a little bit of thickness from your buck to maintain scale. The thickness is not an issue on 1:1, but on models, 1mm is equal to 8mm in 1/8 scale, so it could make a difference.

[JELPSPEED]

Hi
what rsxse240 tells you is really nice idea, I´ve done that in the past, and it works fine! I made myself a nosecone with that technique and it worked pretty well. But I prefer to fill the spaces with bondo, it gives a more accurate model as my experience.
Best regards

[cinqster]

Thanks for that idea rsxe240...I watched them make enough of those speaker boxes on Discovery and never even thought about going down that route. As you say the reduction of buck size would be an issue as I'd rather have accurate external sections to work to. I guess if you had external profile guages to lay over the work to check it it would work but then you also lose the datum points as to where the profiles should be on the body. I've kept the outer profiles when I cut my templates out just incase things go horribly wrong!

A quick update. I've starting closing off the box sections which didn't take too long - just stuck some balsa strips in place around 7mm below the surface. More sheeting was added on top of that:



When dry, I attacked it with the Dremel! My aim is to give the bondo something to key onto and to weaken the balsa edges. Hopefully this will make the final removal of the balsa surfaces easier and allows the bondo strength to pass through the wood giving it some structural continuity?



I've also painted the edges with black enamel so that they show when the filler goes on. Not sure if the filler will attack it yet but about to find out!

Given the size of this thing I'll probably tackle it in 8 separate sections so that it's not too daunting a job, eg. front, back, the two sides and four wheelarches.

Darren, meant to add that I remember Fibre Fab very well (and their rare Alfa conversion) Used Fiesta headlights IIRC?!

[JELPSPEED]

Originally Posted by cinqster

I've also painted the edges with black enamel so that they show when the filler goes on. Not sure if the filler will attack it yet but about to find out!

I use the same method! LOL



TRANSLATED TO ENGLISH: If you can read this, you´ve sanded too much!!

[DarrenGR]

Hi Cinqster,

Yep, that's the one - you are correct - they were either fiesta or Xr3 lights at the front - can't for the life of me remember the rear ones now! ;o)) I saw that design take shape in the garage - built up with resin & matt over urathane foam, which was bonded to the orignal bodywork. I probaby still have some of the dust in my ears!! I still prefer the 2 door version, although the 4 door demonstrator had a better colourscheme!

Great work so far, and looking forward to seeing this one take shape!

Cheers

Darren

[cinqster]

It's been a while since an update and I'm still blocking in the body with tons of bondo!

Things are starting to look OK but I'm short of dimensional data for the wheelarches so things have slowed a bit this week. Promise to update with pictures soon.

In the meanwhile, a friend of mine mentioned a product he used to use about 20 years ago for model prototyping but I can't the stuff anywhere. It's a thin film that looks and behaves like clingfilm, but has an opaque glossy colour. You wrap it around the model master and gives the model a high gloss surface so that you can see the high and low spots, and reduces the need for primer and guide coats. Has anyone seen this stuff anywhere or am I destined to a winter in a dark garage with nothing but a spotlight and a wet sanding bucket for company!